50 ORIOLID.E ORIOLUS 



compares to a harsh " Khrr." The flight of the Golden Oriole 

 is undulating, its gait on the ground a hop and not a walk. It 

 feeds largely upon insects and especially upon caterpillars, in 

 autumn upon cherries and other fruit in addition. The nest, a 

 saucer, or shallow cup-shaped structure, is always suspended from 

 the forked horizontal smaller branch of a tree, usually an oak or 

 pine, at a height of from twenty to forty feet. The framework of 

 the nest is constructed of strips of inner tree-bark, leaves of sedge, 

 and occasionally pieces of paper. These are wrapped round the 

 supporting twigs and woven together. The cavity is lined with fine 

 stalks of grass. About the end of May, in Germany, four or five 

 eggs are laid. These are of a glossy, creamy- white ground colour, 

 sparingly spotted with distinct markings of dark purplish-brown ; 

 usually they are elongated ovates, averaging about 1-25 x O87. 

 In South Africa this species, according to Andersson, " arrives in 

 Damara Land with the return of the rainy season ; but it is com- 

 paratively rare, and very few adult birds are seen ; it is excessively 

 shy and difficult to approach, both when perched on lofty trees and 

 also when gliding rapidly through the underwood. Its food consists 

 of insects and fruits." 



Mr. Barratt, who met with this species in some numbers in the 

 neighbourhood of Eustenburg in the Transvaal, also noticed their 

 extreme shyness, and remarks that owing to this it was some time 

 before he could obtain a specimen. 





21. Oriolus notatus, Andersson 's Oriole. 



Oriolus auratus (nee Vieill.), Gurney, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 2; Layard,B. S. 

 Afr. p. 135 (1867). 



Oriolus notatus, Peters, Jour. f. Orn. 1868, p. 132 ; Sliarpe, Ibis, 1870, 

 p. 218, pi. 7, fig. 2; id. Cat. B. M. p. 196 (1877); id. ed. Layard's 

 B. S. Afr. pp. 412, 845 (1884) ; Gurney in Andersson' s B. Damara 

 Land, p. 124 (1872) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 41 (1896). 



Description. Adult male. Entire head and body golden yellow, 

 deeper on the crown, back, rump, and breast ; from the base of the 

 bill a black streak extends through the eye to the ear- coverts ; wing- 

 coverts black, broadly edged and tipped with yellow; bastard 

 wing black ; quills black, broadly edged externally with pale yellow ; 

 under wing-coverts golden yellow; two centre tail-feathers black 

 with yellow bases and tips, the next on each side yellow with a 

 large black spot on each web, rest of tail-feathers entirely yellow. 



